Spring suspension for vehicles



April 24, 1928.

H. w. HYDE SPRING SUSPENSION Fon VEHICLES Filed May 28. 1923 vPatented pr. 24,192.8.r

1,667,115 PATIENT? OFFICE;

HENRY WEimHYnE;V E NORTH COHASSETQMASSACHSETTS, ASSIGNOR 'ro HYDE EN-l GINEERING comparar,- oiaiscsron,l MASSACHUSETTS, A consom/irmaoEiiuissA-y CHUSETTS. f

" SPRING kSnsEENsIoN Eon, VEHICLES. A *y Application led Hay 28,

i'lhis invention relates to vehicle spring suspensions of the general type `shownand described in fmy prior application forflet ters Patent, filed September 29,1921, Serial rNo. 504,160, patented` January 27,1925, No.' 11,524,437.

As explained in lsaid prior application,

' the invention disclosed thereinV consists A prim'arily in providing the, vehicle with longitudinal springs or Spring reaches connected at their ends, either directly or indirectly, with the axles, and in supporting the 'body on the Spring reaches. intermediate the ends vofl the latter in such amanner 'as to permit said body to rock'freely, with respect to and ,independently of lthe reaches, upon 'a horizontal, Vtransverse axis, so that tilting or rocking'of the reaches,y caused by a vertical movement vofeither the :frontA or rear f wheels vand the axle carried thereby, will notbel transmitted to the body andV will not tendto. tip or pitch the same, said body belng v permitted, by rocking about its axis .with

respect. t-ogthe reaches, ,to maintain its ysubstantially',horizontalposition, its only Inovekment -beingfa yslight:vertical. one jin stanti.ally rectilinear direction. .if .-1 In saidprior application is shownajconstruction wherein 'they ,pivotal ror'rocking connection between .the bodyand thel reaches is disposed forwardly of the center of:,gravity vof the body,.the-rearijendjof .thefgbodv being partly supported by abalancing spring 'y which engages the same atthewopposite Aside of the. center of `gravity from the pivotal lconnection with the reaches, Aso ;that, as ythe j reaches are rockedby an upwardmovement of the rear axle., opposedupwzard forces are applied "to thebodyat opposite sidesl oft-he.

cent-er of gravity,vthereby holding the same against a. corresponding` rocking movement.

In such a construction` as :that vlast described, it, is necessaryfthat the balancingv springs be so arrangedwith` respect to theresilient portionsfof the spring. reachesas not to beaffected` by thefflexureoi vthev latten `when the front axle of jthe .vehiclemoves upwardly.` i sai-d prior application, thejbalancing springs are interposed between ,the body and vtherear iaxle, being` therefore beyond the resilientv portions .of the reaches,l in the direction away' fromythe pivotal connection yof theA` Vlatterwith thebody, so that said balancing "by any In vthe construction ,shownin' 192,3. kseran no. 641,s2.

springsare` not affected by iiexure Vof said reaches Vwhichr terminate atand are secured to Vprovide a form of spring' reach which will enable the balancing springs to be located lbet'vveenthe axle andthe rocking connection, forat` any desiredI point, and to bc connected xwith A(the reaches,"if desired, without being affected, to theiil action zup`on.tlie body, A 'lexure of which ,saidfreaches are capable. y y l A 'l i The foregoing and other lobjects Aofthe y invention', together with meanswhereby the' same may be carried into effect, will best be understood from the following description vof one form or embodiment'thereot illu strated' in theV 'accompanying` drawings. i It willbe understood, .howeven'that vvthe particiilar vconstiuiction described and shownhas been chosenQfor.illustrative purposes merely,

andy that the invention,yas defined bythe c1a-inis-here-untoWappended,.may be other- :avise practised without departure from' its -spirltvand scope.v l f In said drawings:

.Fig 1 isf a'fside elevation and Fig.' 2; a V'plan .view of aspriirgr Asuspension constructed in accordance with theinvention. p f i Inr thev construction shown, the body frame lIOs provided vat each side with a bracket l 11 connected bya pivot pin 12 with a, bracket 4lfsecured to'one ot Aal pair of Spring reaches permit airee rockingr movement of said body @with respect to said` reaches.' As in my prior .the reaches is located at ornear the center of gravi-ty of said body, being herein'shown asslightly forwardthereof.

Each oftheXre/achesV comprises .a rigid beam- 16, which'is.preferably CiU-shape in cross section, supportedl at its rear end by` a ihangjerl? from the rear axle Lian-d having secured `thereto adjacent itsforwardend one of vthe brackets 13. '1 At its forward end, be' yond the bracket 13, eachofthe beams. 16 is provided with a springextension which, asV

shown, :isp` in .the .form of afrelatively fiat, cantilever spring 18 secured atits forward end,` as jby U-bolts ),..to the'front axle 14.

connected'iat their ;en'ds with the'frontand rgear axles lliand 15, respectively, 'the pivot jpins:12beingcoaxially disposed, so as to 90 i As is usual in cantilever spring constructions, said spring 18 is secured intermediate its ends, as by U-bolts 20, to a plate 21 pivotally connected at 22 to the forward end ofthe beam 16, the rear end of said spring resting upona stud 23 carried by said beam and connecting the flanges of the latter. In place of the cantilever spring 18, a quarterf elliptical spring may be rigidly secured to the end of the beam 16'. The cantilever type is preferable, however, as it inherently possesses a greater load carrying capacity for the same flexibility.

Interposed between eachl of the beams 16 and the body frame is a relatively flat, quarter-elliptical spring .24 secured, as, by U-bolts 25, to a bracket 26 on Vsaid body frame at the rear of the axis of the pivots 12. The springs 24 exten-d rearwardly from the brackets 26 and are connected at their ends by shackles 27 with the beams 16. The lo [uarter-elliptical spring 24 is to be taken as merely illustrative of any suitable type of spring or spring device interposed between the beam 16 and the body frame 10 in the vgeneral position vindicated, although such. a spring is preferable as less expensive to build and easier to attach than spring devices of some other type.

It will be seen that each of the spring reaches comprises a vrigid portion and a spring portion at one end only, the'body being pivotally connected at one side of its center of gravity with the rigidporti'ons of the reaches, and balancing springs being interposed between said body and said rigid reaches. When the reaches are rockedin one direction, as by an upward movement of the axle 15, upward forces will be applied to the rectly upward, that the inertia ofthe body` body substantially at or quite close to the center of gravity thereof. The forces tending to cause pitching of the body are so small compare-d' with the forces actingydimaintains it in an essentially horizontal position. When the axle 14 is raised, the spring 18 is compressed, resulting `in an upward force at the pivotal axis 12.v ySince, however, this force acts solely in a vertical di` rection and is applied to the framel() at or but a vshort distance away from the center of gravity, the body, by virtue of its inertia,`

remains substantially in its original position save for a slight upward movement in a rectilinear direction, and as the body moves upward the spring reaches Vturn slightly at the pivotal axis 12, so that the upward force at this point still continues in a vertical direction. The cantilever' springs 18, assisted to a greater or less extent by the balancing y springs 24, are suicient to absorb the shocks delivered to either axle, and upward movement of the axle 14 does not result in exure of the portions 16 of the reaches, which are rigid, so that no downward pull is exerted vlongitudinally of the body, or wherever they may be required in order properlyto balance the same. d

The words rear and front and similar expressions are herein used as convenient 'illustrative terms', it being obvious that,

although the construction shown preferred for mostipurposes, the suspension might be oppositely disposed, the pivotal connection betweenY the body and, thereaches being in therear 'instead of infront of the .center of Vgravity o'f 'the' body, and the otheriparts being correspondingly arranged. This and other modifications of the construction shown will, however,benreadily apparent to those ,skilled inthe art without'discnssionindetail.

Having thus" described myinvention, V,I cla1m: n k

1. A spring suspension for vehicles including a pan'of longitudinal reaches, each of said reaches comprising a rigid bar havingr at one end only a springextension connectedat one end t-o the reach and at its opposite Vend to the axle, the opposite end of lsaid bar being connected .to the other axle, and a connection intermediate said axles between said reaches and the vehic'le'body abouttwhichthe latter Yis free to rock with respect Sto the former.l y y A 2. A spring suspensionfor vehicles including a pair of springreachesa connection between said reaches and the body about which the latter is free to vrock with respect to the former, said connection being'lo'cated at one side of the centerof gravity of the body, the,

ics

portions of said reaches atthe side' of said' l' connection toward the center of gravity of thebody being rigid throughout, and balancing springs interposed between said body and the rigidi'portions Vof said vreaches respec.l

tively.

3. A spring suspension for vehiclesinclud ing a pair. of reaches connected at their 'opposite ends with'the axles of the vehicle, anda connection betweenjsaid reaches and the body of the ,vehiclel about which the latter is free"V to rock Vwith respect to the latter, each vof said reaches having a rigid portion extending from said connection and terminating at one of the axles'and having a spring portion be-' tween said connection and the other r axle, and balancing springs interposed between the body and the rigid portions of said reaches at the opposite side ofsaid connecftion from the spring portions of saidreaches.

4. In a vehicle' having a body lframe and axles, a spring suspension including apair of reaches, a connection intermediate the ends of the reaches between said reaches and the body frame vabout which the latter is Vfree beam connected at one end to one of theV axles7 a balancing spring for the end of the body frame adjacent said'axle, and a springl connecting `said beam With the other axle.

5. In' a vehicle having a body framev and axles, a spring suspension including a pair of reaches, a connection intermediate the l ends of the reaches bet-Ween said reaches andY the body frame about which the latter is free 4to rock with respect tothe former, said connection being located at one side of the cen.- ter. of gravity of thel body, each of said reaches including a substantially rigidvbeam connected at one end to one of the axles, and

a spring connecting said beam with the other axle.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature'. HENRY WEBB HYDE. 

